COLUMBUS, Ohio — Urban Meyer referred to Wisconsin as King of the Big Ten earlier this week.

The Ohio State coach, who has a psychology degree, was no doubt poking his team with a motivational stick. But after Saturday night's 31-24 win in Columbus, neither Meyer nor anyone else could wield such an instrument pointing to anyone but the No. 3 Buckeyes.

In OSU's Big Ten opener, Braxton Miller returned from a near three-week hiatus to throw four touchdown passes and the defense survived a career night from Wisconsin quarterback Joel Stave (295 yards passing) and receiver Jared Abbrederis (207 yards receiving) to earn a key Legends Division victory.

It was an interesting combination of approaches for the third-ranked Buckeyes. A slightly rusty Miller threw for 198 yards to balance the typical power attack favored by Ohio State teams for decades.

The Buckeyes also played field position, pinning 24th-ranked Wisconsin inside its own 10 five times and eschewing hefty field goal tries to consistently leave the Badgers with long fields.

The latter angle is precisely how former coach Jim Tressel authored a decade of destruction in the Midwest, in ugly fashion.

This one wasn't pretty either, but it was just as lethal.

Ohio State has dominated the region ever since its 2002 national championship team rolled undefeated through a 14-game schedule. The Buckeyes won conference crowns in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and were kept out of a BCS national championship game in 2012 only because of Tressel's NCAA infractions. On the field OSU was 12-0 a year ago, with yet another win at Wisconsin.

Meyer's comment was supported by the contention that the Badgers have been to three consecutive Rose Bowls.

True.

However, Ohio State has beaten Wisconsin head-to-head in two of those years, and it took ineligibility at two schools (Penn State and OSU) to get the third-place Leaders Division team to Pasadena last season.

There are no such restrictions in Ohio State's case this year, and Saturday night showed the difference between the two programs.

Even at its peak, Wisconsin has been unable to deal with the Buckeyes. Including last night's victory, Ohio State has topped the Badgers in six of the past seven years.

Interestingly, in that stretch, Wisconsin's lone victory was in 2010, a 31-18 decision in Madison that handed top-ranked Ohio State its only loss of the season. But that game looks like an anomaly.